


The Desertion

by Kraeraenyeh



Series: The Desertion [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Fire Nation (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar) loves Tea, Order of the White Lotus, Water Tribe(s) (Avatar)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24227014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kraeraenyeh/pseuds/Kraeraenyeh
Summary: In this opening chapter, a young Jeong Jeong and his older brother Jian are sent to investigate the assassinations of Fire Nation officials.
Relationships: Iroh & Jeong Jeong (Avatar), Jeong Jeong/OC
Series: The Desertion [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748704
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. The Western Water Tribe

**Author's Note:**

> So for some reason, I really enjoyed Jeong Jeong's story, and I'm extremely fascinated with his background. Since the writers didn't get much into it, I have written/am writing what I imagine his backstory is. I wouldn't consider my fanfiction to be AU. I make up mostly original characters within the realm and rules of the original Avatar Universe. So if you like Jeong Jeong, Iroh, the White Lotus, Fire Nation-style politics, and a lot of original characters, my story is the one for you! ^_^
> 
> I'm am currently working on and finishing the first part of this three-part epic, which takes place pre-Aang. The other sections are during Aang's time, and after during the time of Republic City. On with the first part!
> 
> The story has a mature rating for themes and violence later on! 
> 
> (FYI: I first wrote this about 8 years ago, when I was bored one summer during college and was still a baby writer. I made a few changes to it for clarity, but it is otherwise in its original form).

“So Captain Jeong Jeong, what do we know?” Jian asked. He circled around the table, scanning the papers strewn everywhere. The ink was hardly legible in the dim torchlight, and the room glowed with a reddish tint. Jeong Jeong sat at the table, rubbing his temples with his forefingers. He usually collected as much information as possible about an enemy in order to have a slight advantage. This time, the notes taken on their targets provided very little information other than the inciting incident.

“The culprit was responsible for the assassination of General Li while he was on leave on Ember Island. They snuck into his home at night, froze his arms and legs to prevent his firebending, and slit his throat with one clean slice of waterbending,” Jeong said, making a slicing motion with his hand.

“Natural suspicion would be that the waterbender was from the Northern Water Tribe…” Jian proposed.

“An eyewitness account from General Li’s wife described the assassin wearing an elaborate headdress of feathers, not the typical Northern Water Tribe fashion. That’s the description of the Western Water Tribe, who reside in the isolated areas north of the ancient Sun Warriors city.”

“So…all we know about the enemy is that they are waterbenders, and possibly fashionable,” Jian said as his belly moved from a slight chuckle. Unamused, Jeong stood up and paced the room.

“Little is known about this isolated tribe of waterbenders. There have been very few accounts of their culture and even fewer records of previous encounters with the Fire Nation, other than their immediate surrender when our ships approached their shores a few decades ago. The most recent accounts of these people were from some troublesome small raids on some of the smaller islands of the Fire Nation, and a few eyewitness reports of similar descriptions. They like to attack at night when the moon is out and their powers are at their fullest and leave few tracks other than the dead bodies in their wake. One noticeable feature of their attacks is that they target important Fire Nation bases and their leaders.”

“And then paranoid old Firelord Azulon became weary of the constant complaints from army officials and ordered a small band of men to _eliminate_ this issue.”

“Brother, watch your tongue.”

“What? It’s not like the Firelord can hear us. He’s three hundred miles away.”

“Look, we were chosen for the job, and if we do the job well, there is a sure chance of promotion.” Jeong Jeong turned to face his brother.

“Goodness Jeong, shake that frown off your face! Take a break before the battle! You know this will be easy for us,” Jian said in a joking tone. This lack of seriousness from his brother always annoyed Jeong.

“Does this mission not trouble you at all? We hardly know a thing about our enemy. We don’t know if they have large numbers, or if they’re as powerful waterbenders as we think they are...maybe more so. All we have are a few accounts of renegade attacks. For all we know we could be walking into a death trap.”

“Calm yourself Jeong. You worry too much. If things can’t be solved by a few simple punches and a request for surrender, we can just burn their little island down to the ground. There won’t be any of them left to threaten us then.” He chuckled.

“That’s…not how it should be done. If we use our firebending at all it should be in an honorable battle with them, not just for sheer destruction.” Jian acted like he wasn’t listening, and simply shrugged off Jeong’s remark.

“Like I said, you worry too much. Come. Relax. Have some tea with the men. You will be better off tomorrow if you go into the situation with a clear head anyways.” Jeong nodded in agreement, for his brother did have a point, however, he could not shake the uneasiness he felt about the coming events.

For some fun, the men not only drank tea, but they ate, played music, and told stories of their triumphs in battles against the Earth Kingdom. One man even gave divinations to predict how well the soldiers were going to do the next day. Most of them were positive, and the warriors had good fortunes of grand displays of power and triumph, until he got to Jeong's prediction.

“You will have a deadly encounter with someone during the battle. Don’t be blinded by illusion, or else you won’t make it out alive,” the man said in a dark tone. While Jeong barely believed in these types of arts, this further enhanced his suspicions about the importance of the mission. Jian nudged his younger brother in the ribs.

“Looks like you really do have something to worry about tomorrow, ahahahaha!”

****

“Ugh, the mud in this place is unbearable. I just don’t understand how people can live in this,” Jian complained. Jeong was less concerned with the mud and more concerned with his surroundings. The woods were thick with vines and large colorful flora, and the humidity in the air was so thick he could barely breathe. The plants were so tall they covered the sun overhead, already putting them at a disadvantage if they were attacked. Even worse than the climate was the unsettling silence that seemed to engulf them. Other than the men’s metal boots shuffling through the mud, there were no animal calls or birds chirping…

“Captain Jeong Jeong, look out!” someone called. 

He looked up to see the head of a spear coming straight for him. 

Jumping backward, he firebended the spear into ash and caused the water tribe warrior to fall face-first into the mud. Soon his surroundings were filled with swirls of fire and the clanging of spears; overwhelmed, Jeong burned every weapon aimed at him wildly, but when he quickly turned around, he felt the prick of a spear on the knot of his throat. When he observed more closely, the spear was waterbended as ice, and a woman with an elaborate headdress of feathers and dark blue eyes held the end of it. She did not kill him on sight or seemed like she was going to, but she kept on driving the point deeper and deeper into his neck and smiled while she did it.

“Hey! Enough of this!” an unfamiliar voice yelled over the commotion. All of the water tribe warriors stopped attacking, but held their ground with their spears pointed at the soldiers.

“Please lower your weapons! You all have acted too rashly!” A strong-looking man with wild hair and light brown skin walked out from the vines, and as he moved toward the small group of benders, the natives slowly lowered their spears to the ground.

“That means you too Kai!” The woman at Jeong’s throat made one last poke before she turned her spear back to water and walked toward the man. Jeong noticed that this so-called Kai and man were the only people there wearing extremely tall feather headdresses. Kai’s was at least a foot tall, with straight, bright turquoise and purple feathers, while the man’s was red and yellow, and the feathers were so long they began to curve down the back of his head. Everyone else in the group wore smaller headdresses or had feathers woven into their hair.

“Now that things are calm, tell me, what are you doing on our island?” the man commanded.

“Hello fellow benders,” Jian said in his all-too-confident tone. “I am Admiral Jian and we are just here on a small investigation. Recently many of our high-ranking leaders have been attacked and killed in their sleep, on the islands surrounding this one. Now before you get your feathers flustered, I just want to say that I’m not accusing any of you standing here, but the evidence we have so far points to this island and its waterbenders…”

As Jian continued the diplomacy, Jeong looked around the crowd and observed their reactions. Most of them had confused looks on their faces, wondering what was going on...except one. Kai slowly rocked back and forth in her spot. Her body stayed as stiff as a board, with her fists clenching and her face growing stern. She and that man were the only ones here wearing headdresses matching the descriptions…

“…So if you could please take us to your leader, I believe we can possibly settle this without any more fighting, and prosecute the culprit.”

“Fine,” the young man said, “I will take you to King Moke.”

“May I get your names?” Jian asked.

“My name is Prince Kekoa, and this is my sister Princess Kai.” Kai nodded in their direction, maintaining the same nervousness from before. They turned and began walking the direction to the water tribe village, however, Jian began to speak and stopped the prince in his tracks.

“Just to let you know, your island pledged its loyalties to the Fire Nation decades ago and has been an excellent resource for the mainland in terms of food. Because of your loyalty since then, we have allowed your family to maintain its status among your people. However, if we find any reason to question your allegiance from these attacks, we will not hesitate to burn your little island to the ground.”

And there it was, the statement of their true intentions of coming to the island, and immediately all of the water benders tensed up. While Jeong was happy that his brother showed some restraint about the matter, he knew that Jian’s patience could only last so long, and their men were itching for a good fight. This was going to be a bloody and fiery slaughter. Now the only question was when it will begin.

“Come,” Kekoa said in a solemn voice, leading the way forward with his sister following close behind him. Jeong walked ahead of everyone else and stayed closest to the siblings as they weaved their way through the thick vines. He could’ve sworn he heard Kekoa whisper to his sister, “How could you have been so careless?”


	2. True Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I apologize for how long this update took! Moving during a pandemic is stressful af :P)

“How much longer are these savages going to make us wait?” Jian exclaimed. His impatience kept getting fiercer, and when he threw down his fists, trails of fire went along with them. They waited outside a large pair of wooden doors in a little clearing for a couple of hours now. Jeong became so hot from the humidity that he felt his under-armor sticking to his skin as he moved. He could understand Jian's frustration, but losing his level-headedness was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Calm yourself brother, they are probably just making arrangements to give us the proper kind of welcoming, we don’t want to act too rash when we go in there.”

“I get what you're saying, but we can all tell that they are already the culprits. Can’t you just feel the hatred of the Fire Nation here? I say we march in there and kill their king while they are caught off guard.”

Jeong flinched “I doubt they will be that unprepared. I have a feeling they have a lot more numbers than what we saw today in the woods. We are going to need reinforcements.”

Jian shook his head at that comment. “From where? We are at the edges of the Fire Nation territory. It will take too long for reinforcements to come without interfering with any other campaigns.” Jian’s words were interrupted when Prince Kekoa came in through the doors.

“We are ready for you Commander Jian, Captain Jeong Jeong.” He held the door open behind him and allowed Jian, Jeong, and their entourage to follow.

The hall they were lead into was massive, with light grey trunks of trees imbued in the walls and branches and vines weaved into the ceiling. In between the foliage, rays of light leaked in, making the room bright with the sun. Small waterfalls came through cut-outs in the trunks, flowing into geometric patterns on the floor; the two biggest streams outlined the path they walked on, a constant source of water for the benders. Hundreds of the members of their tribe stood between the patterns, about ten times the amount of men they ran into earlier. Jeong could tell this was only a small fraction of their population and confirmed his thoughts that when the inevitable battle started, they would definitely need reinforcements for their band of about forty men.

“Welcome to our island Commander Jian, Captain Jeong Jeong. I hope that my son has been hospitable enough for you.” Sitting on bright plush pillows, a few stair levels above them, was King Moke, a fierce-looking man with a thick beard and even thicker, stocky body. His headdress was larger than both Kai’s and Kekoa’s combined, light blue, and spread out like an angry peacock-fish. Princess Kai sat in a spot to his right, and the prince took his seat to the left as they approached the King.

“Let’s get to the point here, shall we?” Jian ordered his brother to stand beside him, and the other troops to stay in formation from behind, for extra protection in case their enemies decided to ambush them at that moment. 

While his brother rambled on, explaining why they were there once again, Jeong’s eyes slowly scanned over to the Water Tribe princess. Sitting next to her father and comrades, she looked all the more confident and prideful of her stature, convinced that they would defend her should she be accused of the crime. Jeong's heart raced the longer he watched, as he noticed her regal beauty. Her blue eyes stood out among her brown skin and dark, long hair. Her oval-shaped face seemed like the perfect fit for her other features, especially a full pair of lips. Her mouth tensed as Jian tossed out his accusations--

“What are you staring at Firebender!?” the princess said. 

Jeong startled, caught off guard that Kai would call him out like that during such an important meeting. Everyone’s eyes were on him, and he felt the flames of embarrassment on his face. He bowed towards her in the politest fire nation way.

“My apologies princess,” he said, and he once again focused his attention back on the king and Jian, who smirked at him and winked before he resumed his talking. Jeong knew that he brought that upon himself and stood there feeling like an idiot. He had always hated the way his mind wandered after being away from home and not seeing a woman for months. He couldn’t help but be flustered at this rare gem, after his closer observance of her, she really did stand out among the women he has seen.

“King Moke, as you can see, all of the evidence points to someone from this island, and the Firelord has ordered us to take care of the problem,” Jian said.

“Well, what do you propose to do commander?” King Moke asked. His temples flared, insulted by the bold statement.

“I came here hoping to solve this problem diplomatically,” Jian flat-out lied, “but one of the major questions is, why did your Waterbenders attack us on sight? I mean I think it’s pretty obvious that we are Fire Nation Soldiers and the fact that you attacked us…your rulers… is a reason for us to accuse you of treason.”

Everyone in the room stayed silent, and the only sound was the flowing water. Finally, Kekoa took water from the closest stream, turned it into a spear and pointed it to the Firebenders. Everyone else either copied or pulled out other weapons, while the group of Firebenders behind Jian and Jeong took their stance and prepared to fight. Both Jeong and Jian put up their hands, yielding to the water benders before them.

“Wait a minute, let’s not act rash here. If you kill us now an even bigger force of soldiers will be here to crush you soon enough. At the very least, let’s have a proper and honorable battle. If you win, we promise to leave your island and never bother you again,” Jian claimed.

“Father, don’t listen to him! He’s lying!” Kekoa said. After that statement, Kai and all of the Waterbenders began yelling their opinions to the king. It was chaotic, and even Jeong became overwhelmed with what was going on.

“SILENCE!” King Moke stood up and screamed over everyone, making the room quiet once again.

“We will meet you in battle, and that is that. Leave my hall you Fire Nation dogs.” He sat back down calmly, with the scorns of both Kai and Kekoa upon him.

Jian didn’t say a word and solemnly walked out of the room with his men following him. Once they were out of earshot Jian leaned over to whisper into his brother’s ear.

“Fine. You were right. Once we leave, we will send a hawk to the Boiling Rock, asking for more troops.” Good call, Jeong thought.

“I’m proud, you showed a lot of restraint back there. Although I do think it was a dirty move of how you straight out accused them of treason. But, I’m glad we drew them out and are actually fighting them in battle,” Jeong said.

Jian stopped and turned to his brother with a stern look.

“Don’t act like this is a good thing, Jeong. I know that we need reinforcement troops, but you don’t understand the severity of our failure today. We will be seriously reprimanded by our superiors when they figure out we didn’t handle this situation differently. We couldn’t even walk out with the one responsible for General Li’s murder.” He sharply turned in disgust, leaving Jeong bewildered by his brother’s unnatural outburst. When did he become so serious about his job? Jeong reluctantly followed his brother, and together they prepared for battle.

******

After everyone left the room except for the Prince and King, Kai closed the doors in the hall, making sure they had the privacy to talk. She immediately twisted around and began to scold her brother.

“What in the world were you thinking Kekoa? Bringing out your spear, when it could have been settled differently!” she accused.

“What are you talking about! This is all your fault! You were the one who led the men into attacking them in the forest! And on top of that, you weren’t careful enough when it came to the assassinations, I can’t believe you let that general’s wife see you…how sloppy! The other warriors were even better at their jobs than their princess.”

Kai fumed as her brother bullied her. “It wasn’t intentional Kekoa! She was supposed to be sleeping next to him…” The event that night was completely unplanned. Once Kai noticed that his wife wasn’t in bed with him, she thought she could kill him fast enough before she came back. Kai bolted out of the house once the wife screamed, and tried to leave as discreetly as possible before the Ember Island guard was called. That was her last kill in the tribe’s string of attacks.

“Enough of your bickering you two, you are both at fault for being too careless during this situation. Right now we need to come up with a plan to win this battle.”

Kai wanted to talk back; her father didn’t really make the best decision either. If anything his decision made it worse, because both Kai and Kekoa knew the Fire Nation troops were going to call for reinforcements. If they had killed them immediately, they would have at least had time to call on allies from the Northern Water Tribe or the Earth Kingdom, or to flee. Kekoa approached their father and bowed down on his knees.

“I volunteer to take myself and some men to take out their leader. With the proper tactics incorporating our own landscape we should be able to take them.”

“You lack the advanced Waterbending skills to take on their leader, did you see them all bending earlier? They are all extremely talented, and I bet their reinforcements will be even more so,” his sister retorted.

“I think he is capable enough Kai.”

There he went, showing favoritism for his oldest son. It has been clear since they were young that Kai showed superior skills in Waterbending, but because of her gender and her young age of nineteen, their father always preferred Kekoa. She had to think of a different way to prove herself.

“Fine, I want to take out Captain Jeong Jeong. Jian may be the leader, but I have the feeling the captain is the brain behind some of this. Taking him out will be a huge blow to their army, and will turn the battle in our favor,” Kai said. She began making a punching motion with her hands. “Plus, I want to punish him for staring at me so openly like that.”

“Oh shut up, you should be happy a man is even staring at you.” He began poked his sister in the arm. She jerked his arm down, before getting in a mock fight.

“Not when that man is from the Fire Nation,” their father said. A somber note took the room, and Kai watched her father as his eyes darkened. 

“So it’s settled then, you will each take out their major officers.” He moved to the entrance opened the doors ahead of him, then sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead. “We will strategize about this more tomorrow.” As he walked outside Kai looked at her brother and then back to her father, saddened to see the great man they once knew, wither away into the distance.


End file.
